Demon's Bird
by Wolfkins
Summary: The demons were sent to destroy Harthran, rid it of the evil but one of them didn't kill Fennix even as the dead lay all around, decided to keep her instead, calling her his bird. Did they eat birds? Ignatius returns her to his home, in his world, but can he keep her and more importantly can he keep her safe from the other demons? R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

Their ruler chose morning purposefully to show that they feared not any resistance and to compound the suffering. Suffering is short lived if your victim is sound asleep. It was the morn following the all Hallows Eve celebration that they were sent, appearing just after dawn. The church goers were the first to see them, the pious ones, the ones who had stayed up half the night for a pagan celebration but rose early for the dawn ceremony. Those were the ones they were after, the hypocritical, the sinners who thought they were better than thou. Perhaps it was the devil that sent them, but maybe it was the gods who grew disgusted with the faithlessness of their followers. It could have been the land itself that fulfilled the old prophecy which promised that if its inhabitants were evil, truly evil, demons would be sent to destroy the villages and everyone in them. Then the cycle would begin anew just as it had time in and time out.

Their dark wings were a stark contrast again the brilliant pink skyline, soft and serene like it was still half asleep. From afar they were but black wings carrying balls of fire marring the perfection of the new day, a dozen of them give or take. As they descended upon Harthran however it was plain to see that they were much, much more.

Fennix was half asleep in her claustrophobic cell, body curled up as there wasn't even enough room to stretch her short legs, when the screaming began. When it first reached her ears she wasn't terribly concerned, screaming was pretty commonplace, along with bodies being hung at the drop of a hat. But it continued and came in endless waves and high pitches from women and men alike and her blood ran cold. Fennix leapt up, stumbling a bit on sleepy legs, and pressed herself against the bars to see out the door of their dilapidated jail. The cells had a perfect view of the town square and the gallows, purposefully she assumed for a little extra torture.

Her heart stopped dead when she first caught a glimpse of them and the breath hitched in her chest. They were fantastic and horrifying, yet that was far too simplistic, with a wing spread that must have been four feet wide if they were an inch. Within a minute they littered the streets of tiny Harthran, swooping down to speckle the land with their darkness and lighting it up again with the fireballs that spewed from their palms. With them the creatures brought chaos, no more than that, there were chaos, almost as if it was in their blood. Citizens were running and screaming and with no hesitation on their parts the bloodbath began in earnest. Fennix's mouth dropped open but no sound was coming forth, she tried to force herself to turn away but couldn't, unable to tear her eyes from the shreds of humanity defiling the streets. No description could do justice to the gruesome spectacle she witnessed that day as they swarmed her neighbors and ripped them apart like flimsy pieces of paper. It was the only day she thanked the gods for having no friends or family left. Defiling her ears were their animalistic growls and the shrieks of the dying, just resounding over and over, louder still when she covered her ears with shaking hands. Most of the Harthranians were armed, it was just part of life there, but mortal weapons seemed to inflict little to no damage on the beasts. Even Trent, who wielded his meticulously sharpened double sided ax fell within a minute, two at most. Men and women were running the streets like mad, some bloody, some limbless, chased by unearthly tall creatures. It was like a live depiction of the pages from their church books, something they had all assumed was only meant to frighten them. The gods surely must have sent the creatures and nothing would ever be the same.

One such ghastly beast tackled a man, Harold the Horrible they had called him, not thirty feet from where Fennix stood. He went down with a deep throaty yell that ended in a gurgle and then Harold moved no more. That's when Fennix first caught sight of their haunting red glowing eyes so intense that they seemed to reach right down into her soul. Its eyes flicked up to her for just the briefest of moments before plucking Harold's head from his neck and tossing it carelessly over its shoulder. The eyes flicked up to her again and the creature grinned, it could feel her fear. Bored with its corpse the winged killer set its sights on Fennix and was suddenly stalking in her direction. Fennix scurried away from the bars to the back wall of her cell, trampling the meager bedroll in the process. There was nowhere to hide, all she could do was listen to the screams of agony and await her turn which was coming on swift feet.

And it _was _her turn, there was no mistaking the feral gleam in its eye, the purposeful gait. The creature stormed into the jail and up to her cell, swatting the small wooden table out of its path like a gnat, face dark and intent. With a slight grunt of satisfaction it grabbed the iron barred door and tore it free with just a tad more effort that it took to dislodge Harold's head. Their eyes locked as it let the door drop, jarring her senses, and Fennix trembled with a terror she'd never known the likes of. The demon had to turn itself just to fit its wings into the cell and closed in on the small woman, his massive body stopping less than a foot away. It held her tearful gaze, a devilish grin playing over its lips, loving every moment of her fear, thriving off of it. Though the creature was fearsome beyond words, up close it wasn't quite what Fennix had expected. Take away the wings, the spiraling black horns that stood erect just behind its hairline and the red eyes and it - He - looked like an ordinary man. He wasn't hunched over or grotesquely deformed as the schools books had depicted, and no jagged teeth protruding from his mouth. He had short, spiky black hair and was dressed head to toe in black, wings protruding from the back of his ankle length jacket.

Wasting no time he held his palm out towards her and while Fennix watched in abject horror as it began to glow, she knew she was going to die. Not just die, die in a far worse fashion than she had already been scheduled for, she was going to be burnt to death and that would last far longer than a neck snap. The glow began churning and deepening into a dark, molten red which began spitting flames that nipped at her face. The demon brought his palm closer and closer until it was mere inches from her face and she could feel the intense heat pouring off of it. Fennix's eyes teared up even more and squinted from the intensity but try as she might she couldn't look away. His dark, bony wings came forward and semi-circled themselves around Fennix until they hit the wall, shrouding her in darkness, causing her heart to thump madly. Its eyes studied her reactions intently, head cocked to the side as if wondering over them, while she wondered in dread when death was going to happen and how badly it was going to hurt.

Despite her stubbornness and the fierce words she'd spoken about not being afraid of death when they'd jailed Fennix, she began weeping pitifully. She had never really wanted to die, gods she shouldn't have even been jailed, it was all madness. And then quite suddenly and unexpectedly he closed his palm, squelching the fire.

"No cry." he ordered in a deep, raspy voice and pulled her chin back up to look him in the eye. "_No_ cry."

Was it taking pity on her? Fennix was completely blindsided, she didn't even know how to react, was it a trick? Was it playing with her?

"Ignatius." he continued, pointing to his broad chest.

She couldn't comprehend the word Ignatius for a long frenzied moment but finally realized that he was telling her his name...but why? Whatever the reason Fennix was not going to waste time by questioning his motives and possibly angering him.

"Fennix." she whispered, trying in vain to stop the tears, and pointed to her own chest.

Ignatius nodded and began speaking excitedly in a language she didn't understand, assumedly explaining something. She shook her head slowly to signify she didn't comprehend, brow scrunched in concern. Had he perhaps thought her useful and would change his mind when he realized she didn't speak his language? But then came one word that she did comprehend.

"Bird." he declared, pointing at Fennix.

She blinked in a complete stupor, it understood her language?

"Yes." she agreed slowly. "It means child of the Phoenix." Her mother had described her father, whom she'd never known, as a Phoenix. He flew in hot and intense, loved with a burning passion and then flew away, never to be seen again.

The demon nodded as if he understood.

"Bird sing."


	2. Chapter 2

Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly several times, did he want _her _to sing? She looked at him questioningly, then down at his thick black boots with the red lacing that nearly matched the color of his palm. She knew that animals considered looking directly into their eyes a challenge of sorts and feared it may have been the same with his kind. Fennix didn't know anything about his kind, that much was blatantly obvious because nothing so far had been anything like the books and the last thing she wanted to do was challenge him when he was so docile.

"Sing." he repeated.

Ignatius sensed that she wasn't like the others, she didn't have the hardness inside her or the darkness of spirit. Fennix's spirit was large and bright as an angel's wings. That must have been why they trapped the little bird in a cage. His large hand reached for her mouth but Fennix shrank away in fear.

"You want me to sss-sing?" she stuttered.

She could sing, fairly well actually, but why...what? She shook her head, not in refusal but trying to discern if she was misunderstanding his demand. Was this really happening or had the food deprivation finally driven her to hallucinations? Ignatius nodded his affirmation. He wondered if perhaps he was misspeaking their language or if Fennix was still afraid. He wasn't trying to frighten her anymore than he already had but he'd never heard a bird sing, had only heard _of _it. Ignatius badly wanted to hear a song with his own ears.

"_Fennix_ sing." he said in a very firm tone and crossed his arms over his chest.

There was no mistaking his tone, he would settle for nothing less than a song, she realized, a lump forming in her throat. What kind of song would a demon want to hear, did they even have music proper? There was a long pause as she feverishly racked her brain and the demon quirked his brow impatiently.

Heart aflutter with nerves, Fennix chose a soothing lullaby that her mother used to sing to her when she was small, hoping against hope that it would please Ignatius. Her voice quavered a bit at first, trying to hold back more tears, but he didn't seem to notice or mind. The demon closed his eyes as he listened intently, all the ferocity and intensity disappearing from his visage and just the ghost of a smile grazed its lips. Emboldened, Fennix continued to sing, voice stronger and hitting its normally melodious glory and Ignatius' smile widened. It must have been true what they said about music soothing the savage beast, she thought. When she finished the lullaby Ignatius opened his eyes and gently brushed the tip of his roughened finger over her lips almost affectionately.

"My bird." he told the little bird, completely enamored with the magic of her voice. Ignatius instantly knew that he needed Fennix to be his, such a rare and wondrous creature needed to be protected and adored. Where he came from was dull and desolate, nothing there was half so beautiful as she.

Her heart ceased beating for a long moment at his declaration. What did it mean, did they eat birds?

"No, no I'm not a real bird." she protested.

"Bird." he replied with a firm nod.

"No." Fennix protested. "See, no wings." she turned her back slightly so that Ignatius could see her winglessness. "I'm a woman."

The demon looked and nodded. He'd never seen a bird before so he wasn't at all sure what they looked like. It didn't really matter to him that she was wingless, Fennix was still the perfect specimen.

"No wings." he repeated and shrugged. "Fennix mine."

Ignatius grabbed her hand firmly and began tugging his little bird along, out of the jail and into the maelstrom. Fennix was too frightened to struggle as she was dragged past bodies, blood and the miscellaneous gore adorning the land. Everywhere she looked there was another creature and she doubted any of them would hesitate to kill her for a song. She wasn't sure why Ignatius had. There were screams off in the distance and random entrails strewn about that made her want to vomit. Where was he taking her?

The demon stopped at the cobblestone street and turned to his bird, eyes flickering with excitement. It was beyond belief that he'd found a bird and was able to take her home, he'd been so lucky to get there before the blasphemers had killed her.

"But I'm not a bird!" Fennix argued, when he swept an arm around her thin waist and pulled her close.

"Ignatius understand."

Perhaps the heathens hadn't even told her that she was special. It was no wonder the Supreme had demanded their lands be reset, there was very little good to be had.

"If you want a bird why are you taking me?" Fennix squeaked, still fearing that he was going to eat her and imagining herself over a spitfire. She would much rather have died swiftly like all the others.

She began squirming and pushing at him, fiercely trying to wriggle herself free.

"Want Fennix." Ignatius replied, annoyance lacing his voice.

He didn't want to struggle with the little bird and possibly harm her, but his work was unfinished. He needed to get Fennix home and come back before anyone realized he was gone. There were punishments for disobedience.

"No hurt Fennix." he whispered before sweeping her right off her feet and cradling Fennix in his arms.

Panicking now, she began struggling fiercely, kicking and screaming, though most of her screams just blended in with the others. The demon wished he could better explain his intentions but he was not so good at their language and consequently his bird seemed to think he was going to harm her. It was a shame but not much could be done about it now, he had to move.

"No, put me down!" Fennix yelled, beating against his chest and squirming her body, though it was futile.

She was just left to wonder what was going to happen, was she food or meant to be a part of some demonic ritual? She hadn't been half so scared when the judges had sentenced her to be hanged, at least she'd known what was coming.

The next scream died on her lips when his massive, powerful wings began flapping, sending out gusts strong enough to roll a nearby body away. Ignatius lifted them off the ground with ease and her body froze in his arms, eyes looking between his face and the hastily receding ground in mind numbing terror. Cold wind was billowing through her long hair and up her dress and Fennix felt so fragile like she could just be whisked away like a feather. As they ascended higher and higher towards the light blue sky she found herself perversely clinging to her accoster for dear life. Body quaking in terror, heart lodged in her throat, Fennix wrapped her arms around the demon's neck and buried her head in the warmth of his chest. Around them the demon's great wings swooped thunderously as they spiraled higher and higher away from the turmoil below. Ignatius gently shushed her and whispered soft encouragements that, while she couldn't quite understand, actually helped calm her frazzled nerves. His voice blocked out the harsh wind and with her eyes closed Fennix didn't even realize when they crossed the land borders.


End file.
